Tuesday, 2 July 2013

New Adult on the Block: Losing It by Cora Carmack

Losing It

Cora Carmack

William Morrow Paperbacks

[October 12, 2012]

Virginity.

Bliss
Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of
being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to
deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible-- a
one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when
she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with
an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if
if that weren't embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first
class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre
professor. She'd left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.

Yeah, I know. Her name is Bliss. But guys. Oh, guys.

I'm such a sucker for love stories that are organically complicated. Somebody's royal/famous/super rich and the other person is not royal/famous/rich. New love interest is the best friend of a former love interest or the new love interest is the sibling of a deceased former love interest. Pretty much any historical fiction in YA. And teacher/student relationships? TOTALLY UNDER THAT BLANKET. Except, they have an even more complicated line to walk because with a teacher/student relationship can fall into the creepy-side of things super easily, especially as I still am a student (though, I have yet to have a teacher that's attractive. WAY TO BUILD UP MY HOPES, BOOKS). So that Losing It manages to pull off a teacher/student relationship that is NOT creepy and actually pretty sexy gives it SO many points right off the bat.

I mean, first, ya gotta love how they started. Bliss is trying to lose her virginity. She chickens out and leaves the beautiful, British, motorcycle-riding guy in her bed. Wakes up the next morning to find out the guy she left is her professor. How can this not be, at the very least, hilariously awkward to read about? Don't worry, Cora didn't fail.

I loved Bliss. I got past her name and then I could relate to her. My major is considered one of the ridiculous majors, my friends are social butterflies and I'm...not, and I really could be that awkward. She also worries about the future and has some major doubts about what she's doing, even though she only has a semester until graduation. Bliss shows this underrepresented in media, but very realistic, college student.

And Garrick? Oh Garrick. He wasn't really much older than his students, he was an actor, he was British. He seemed like a real guy, if maybe a little too good to be true. But his motorcycle didn't make him a badass, his teacher status didn't make him a creep, and his British-ness didn't make him an automatic gentleman or a snob. He was a character, not a stereotype.

Back to the story - it did not fail to keep me entertained. Garrick and Bliss had this great banter and I was totally amused reading their interactions. They were sweet and awkward at times and funny and I adored it. It was very romance-centric, which is just what my poor, tired brain needed when I read this - a month before my semester ended and two weeks before I had to start looking at apartments. It was light and fun and enthralling, but also had a very real tone to it. Cora's writing kept me totally invested and in love with the story and the characters.

In case you hadn't figured this out, I loved Losing It. It was the second New Adult book I had read and it completely won me over. I will read whatever Cora Carmack wants to write in the New Adult category, and probably in other categories too. I even waited for almost two hours to get a signed copy of Faking It at BEA and I'll be devouring that book in the very near future.